Adventure Therapy
Adventure Therapy
Çîyako
'Calling out to the Mountain'
STEP's rock-climbing project started in 2017 and has expanded over the years with trips offered to refugee and IDP youth. It has proved extremely popular as demonstrated by the increased demand by the boys and girls. This programme has been used as a pilot project for the development of a therapeutic and potential peacebuilding opportunity for displaced youth from different communities.
This project aims to provide evidence of the impact of outdoor activities on young people from displaced, host, and additional needs communities. The hope is that this project will demonstrate the following:
- It is an activity that has a positive impact on participants' mental health and well-being.
- It can be used to promote social cohesion and peacebuilding.
- It could be further used and explored in other contexts with differing displaced and vulnerable young people, either in the Middle East or a wider context.
A Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor qualified to the highest of UK standards is currently overseeing the project with two interns and the support of other STEP staff when needed. The aim is to expand into a multi-disciplinary team that would provide outdoor instruction and mental health support as well as engage with the different communities in a way that might enhance inter-community cohesion.
As it stands currently, the adventure therapy activities provide an excellent opportunity for young people to escape their hard realities with time in nature, packed with fun and educational activities. With the appropriate funding and resources, this could grow into an alternative mental health initiative where their experiences could be guided towards optimal therapeutic results.
'Çîyako' has a very deep meaning in Syrian Kurdish which expresses the liberating release of emotions through the act of 'calling out to the mountain'. We wish to emulate this freedom of expressing oneself and one's emotions without limitations with this project through the healing powers of the mountains and adventure therapy.